Since December I have been posting (irregularly) a series of Jupiter Transit articles. Now that I am done, here are all the links to the series in one place:

Dare to Dream- Jupiter Transits

Is Bigger Better? Jupiter & 1^st House Transits

This is What I Want What I Really Really Want- Jupiter & 2^nd House Transits

Speechless? – Jupiter & 3^rd House Transits

Door handles & Homes Sweet Home- Jupiter & 4^th House Transits

Love etc- Jupiter & 5^th House Transits

In Sickness & in Health- Jupiter & 6^th House Transits

For Better & For Worse- Jupiter & 7^th House Transits

For Richer or For Poorer- Jupiter & 8^th House Transits

Flying High- Jupiter & 9^th House Transits

Jupiter & 10^th House Transits- no catchy title, what was I thinking?

Hey Now- This is What Dreams Are Made of- Jupiter & 11^th House Transits

Watch Me Come Undone- Jupiter & 12^th House Transits

As a reminder, while Jupiter is in Pisces:

If your Sun or Ascendant is in Pisces- this will be in your 1^st house

If your Sun or Ascendant is in Aries- this will be in your 12^th house

If your Sun or Ascendant is in Taurus- this will be in your 11^th house

If your Sun or Ascendant is in Gemini- this will be in your 10^th house

If your Sun or Ascendant is in Cancer- this will be in your 9^th house

If your Sun or Ascendant is in Leo- this will be in your 8^th house

If your Sun or Ascendant is in Virgo- this will be in your 7^th house

If your Sun or Ascendant is in Libra- this will be in your 6^th house

If your Sun or Ascendant is in Scorpio- this will be in your 5^th house

If your Sun or Ascendant is in Sagittarius- this will be in your 4^th house

If your Sun or Ascendant is in Capricorn- this will be in your 3^rd house

If your Sun or Ascendant is in Aquarius- this will be in your 2^nd house

While Jupiter is in Aries:

If your Sun or Ascendant is in Aries- this will be in your 1^st house

If your Sun or Ascendant is in Taurus- this will be in your 12^th house

If your Sun or Ascendant is in Gemini- this will be in your 11^th house

If your Sun or Ascendant is in Cancer- this will be in your 10^th house

If your Sun or Ascendant is in Leo- this will be in your 9^th house

If your Sun or Ascendant is in Virgo- this will be in your 8^th house

If your Sun or Ascendant is in Libra- this will be in your 7^th house

If your Sun or Ascendant is in Scorpio- this will be in your 6^th house

If your Sun or Ascendant is in Sagittarius- this will be in your 5^th house

If your Sun or Ascendant is in Capricorn- this will be in your 4^th house

If your Sun or Ascendant is in Aquarius- this will be in your 3^rd house

If your Sun or Ascendant is in Pisces- this will be in your 2^nd house

 And Finally

As with all transits, check out where your natal Jupiter is and what houses he rules.

If the transit is happening in your 1^st house, look also to the 7^th, 10^th & 4^th for impacts

If the transit is happening in your 2^nd house, look also to the 8^th, 11^th & 5^th for impacts

If the transit is happening in your 3^rd house, look also to the 9^th, 12^th & 6^th for impacts

If the transit is happening in your 4^th house, look also to the 10^th, 1^st & 7^th for impacts

If the transit is happening in your 5^th house, look also to the 11^th, 2^nd & 8^th for impacts

If the transit is happening in your 6^th house, look also to the 12^th, 3^rd & 9^th for impacts

If the transit is happening in your 7^th house, look also to the 1^st, 4^th & 10^th for impacts

If the transit is happening in your 8^th house, look also to the 2^nd, 5^th & 11^th for impacts

If the transit is happening in your 9^th house, look also to the 3^rd, 6^th & 12^th for impacts

If the transit is happening in your 10^th house, look also to the 4^th, 7^th & 1^st for impacts

If the transit is happening in your 11^th house, look also to the 5^th, 8^th & 2^nd for impacts

If the transit is happening in your 12^th house, look also to the 6^th, 9^th & 3rd for impacts

Patsy in New York (www.pap-art.com)

There is this episode of Absolutely Fabulous where Patsy and Eddy go to New York hop on the Concord and fly to New York for a shopping trip. This isn’t just any shopping trip, Eddy is after a door handle that she saw in a magazine in the waiting room at (I think) the dentists.

In the previous episode Patsy burned the kitchen down. We see a completely burned out kitchen and Pats slumped on the table passed out with the cigarette still in her mouth. So Eddy needs a new kitchen and the door handle is the key piece of the design of her new kitchen. In fact, it the only design piece for her new kitchen. She wants the kitchen to look like the door handle.

I actually don’t see anything wrong with this concept. The main hallway, family room TV room in our house has a colour scheme that was entirely dictated by the centre of the daisy in a Garry McEwan print I bought in Melbourne. Our bedroom is based on an antique china plate I saw once and the lounge/dining on a scrap of William Morris wallpaper. I completely redecorated my study when I bought another Garry print. My daughter is no better- her vision for when we did her bedroom a couple of years ago was based on a T shirt with a frangipani on it that we bought on holidays somewhere.

I went mad with the paint brush when Jupiter last transited my 4^th house… and that is just one of the things that 4^th house transits are great for. But then again, I have Gemini on the cusp of my 4^th house, so change in the home environment is something that helps me feel secure… along with lots of books and lots of music files.

Whatever sign your 4^th house falls under, when Jupiter transits you will be looking closely at home and the stability, security (or otherwise) that you get (or don’t get) from your domestic set-up or family.

The 4^th house is at the very bottom point of your chart and signifies things that are at the very root of your being- where you came from and the end of matters. It is also about the home and real estate- the 4^th is where we buy, sell and improve real estate. To traditional astrologers, the 4^th represents the father, to many modern astrologers it is family in general and, by extension, family relationships. The Cancer stuff of life- protection, safety and nurturing.

Jupiter likes to expand and offer opportunities to make things bigger- but as we have seen, bigger isn’t always better and size really doesn’t matter.

When Jupiter transits your 4^th house you may, like me, go on a manic home improvement phase, or you may decide your home is too small and look for something bigger. Whilst comfort and the security of your family may be of increased comfort right now, any unresolved issues may be blown out of all proportions. Your family may grow- either literally or figuratively eg you may have children, more people living with you or become closer to people who provide you with the feeling of family.

You may want to move, or you may not want to step outside the front door. An chance may present itself to make money (in some way) from real estate- depending on your natal Jupiter and level of risk you are comfortable with you may choose to take it or you may choose to leave it. Jupiter doesn’t really care. Nor does he care if you over extend yourself financially in the process with all the flow on effects on relationships- his job is just to provide the opportunities.

The 4^th house also represents the basic foundations in our lives- what makes you content and stable on a psychological level. You may become interested in family history or traditions, perhaps creating some of your own. You may focus on long term security or you may “up-root” and start again.

It is worth remembering that any 4^th house Jupiter transit will form challenging aspects to the other angles in your chart, ie the 1^st, 7^th and 10^th houses. Perhaps a need to be with the family will prompt you to look closely at issues of work/life balance- it may even mean that your job changes because of things happening at the domestic level. Whenever changes happen in the home, they have flow on effects to relationships, possibly your health (moving house is one of the most stressful things you can do) and maybe even your personal freedoms.

Maybe you just have the urge to fly to New York in search of the perfect door handle. Now there’s an idea…

© Stanko Mravljak | Dreamstime.com

I know I should be having something interesting to say about 3^rd house transits, but I don’t. The 3^rd house is associated with Mercury stuff and regular readers know all about my Mercury. Maybe this is why I find the 3^rd house and what it is associated with boring. Nothing interesting or mind blowing tends to happen to me when Jupiter moves through the 3^rd. It is all routine stuff. I have no planets in the 3^rd, and when Jupiter moves through the 3^rd it really doesn’t set off many interesting aspects- perhaps a sextile or 3,  maybe a couple of trines and an opposition to Neptune- nothing really to get my heart racing. Anyway, the last twice Jupiter has gone through the 3^rd I have put on weight… and that is never a good thing.

Needless to say, rather than being speechless and suffering from a rather nasty case of writers block, I should be more garrulous (I promised astro FB pal NR that I would  use that word- which is about as close a definition of Jupiter in the 3^rd as you could get).

So, in order to make this slightly interesting for anyone who does have planets and chart points that are activated in a really interesting way by a third house transit of Jupiter, lets first look at what are 3^rd house type of issues:

-          Communication, obviously…lots of it

-          Other Mercury related stuff like writing, speaking

-          Study, specifically early learning, school and the learning we have to do (as opposed to 9^th house learning which is usually the higher learning we want to do to expand ourselves)

-          Brothers and sisters

-          Neighbours

-          Everyday routines and contacts

 As I do most weeks for this series, I sat down with the trusty ephemeris in an attempt to work out just what was happening when Jupiter was last transiting the 3^rd and I came to the rather dissatisfactory conclusion of not a whole lot. I was busy- learning a new job, learning all about new processes & procedures and relationships and politics and new routines. Having spent all my previous years in banking, IT was completely unfamiliar. I felt at times (actually most of the time) that I was out of my depth, out of control and struggled with the pressure of proving myself in a completely new field.

Rather than a leisurely 30 minute drive to Concord West to park the car and walk Sarah across to the day-care that the Bank provided on premises, I had the morning rush of being at Concord West exactly as the centre opened at 7am allowing myself 5 minutes to run to the railway station and share my morning commute with other squashed rail travellers into the city (and smelly ones on the way home). I would then cram a million things that I didn’t understand into my day, before doing a similar rush back to the station, all the while hoping and praying to the Gods of City Rail that the train would be on time and I would make it back to day-care in time to collect my bundle of joy . Then it would be home in time for arsenic hour (all Mums know the meaning of that one), baths, hunter gathering activities, bed and start again.

In between all of that, I was also completing a post graduate diploma in IT Project Management and attempting to get to the gym by 5am most work mornings (the only time that I had). Busy busy busy.

Nothing really exciting there- except perhaps the constant threat of a nervous breakdown and the slow unravelling of routines and fitness for stress and a growing need for a calming drink the minute I stepped inside the door.

Going back to mid 1988, it was a similar story. Out of my parents home for the first time I was adapting to life in Canberra. As part of the Bank’s Graduate Scheme I was changing jobs every couple of months. Within the space of 6 months I was expected to master back office operations, reporting, customer service/ teller duties and loan documentation. At each department I had to learn new processes, procedures, new pecking orders and new names and politics. Each department involved a change of routine.  

In the middle of all of this my heart was broken very dramatically for the first time and I settled down to some serious comfort eating and drinking.

Hang on… all of this is Jupiter in the 3^rd! Expansion of contacts, changes to routine, having to learn new things and busy busy busy.  Changes and expansion of the everyday.

Your experience of Jupiter through the 3^rd is likely to be very different to mine, but you can expect:

-          Changes to your routine

-          Busy-ness in your routine

-          Opportunities to learn new tasks, or study

-          New neighbours or contacts

-          (hopefully) better relationships with your brothers or sisters

The amazing Robert hand also talks about a Jupiterian expansion in your thought patterns- how you see the world and also how you view previously self imposed limitations. As with all things Jupiter, the 3^rd house transit asks you to look at 3^rd house issues and ask where you are selling yourself short.

From his Planets in Transit, Hand writes:

…your attitude to the world will be much more generous, understanding and tolerant of other peoples’ differences. You are less likely to be influenced by prejudices. Instead you will want to know everything on the basis of your own experience.

As with all things Jupiter, confidence is great, but over-confidence can be arrogant. So, if you have writing or speaking or training to do, be confident, but don’t forget the preparation.

If Pisces is on your 3^rd house cusp, you will be looking at a 3^rd house transit of Jupiter this year. How is your communication? Is there any writing or study projects which you have been looking closely at? Is there opportunity for you to travel? Have you been viewing your world from a narrow focus? Have you found yourself becoming increasingly intolerant of what is happening around you? Have you outgrown some routines? Is life becoming a little predictable? Be careful what you wish for…

Pic by me, Sea World, Gold Coast

I may have the worst possible Mercury in history, but I have this really weird ability to remember stuff that means nothing and things that I really should forget. Lines from songs, obscure band names, music trivia and things I have done when I was drunk and when a better Mercury would have allowed me to forget. This sometimes comes in handy like when the line from a Midnight Oil song “Read About It” found its way into an Economics essay in Uni and earned me a mark far better than I deserved “The rich get richer, the poor get the picture, the bombs never hit you when you’re down so low…The bosses want decisions, the workers need ambitions, there won’t be no collisions when they move so slow…” Naturally I gave full credit to Messrs Hirst, Garrett and Moginie.

Anyway, one of the trivial things that came into my head the other day was a quote from nobody in particular “99.8% of statistics are made up.” Now I don’t know if that is true and, being a triple Pisces and a big picture girl, I am not sure I really care. But it then reminded me of another statistic I read about the 10 top causes of stress in your life. Somewhere in the top 5 was moving house, losing your job and starting a new job. And that, in turn, brings me to Jupiter transits of the 2^nd house… because that is exactly what happened when Jupiter last transited mine. Within a period of a month, we bought & sold a house (yep, in that order), moved, I was retrenched and I started a new job 3 days later.

Another statistic that I am not especially proud of is the pile of restructure letters I managed to collect from the Financial Institution I previously worked for. I was there for 11 years (including 12 months maternity leave) and had managed to amass 13 letters in the previous 6 years advising me that my job had been restructured and all positions had been spilled. On each occasion I had been fortunate and either held onto my role or was promoted to a new one. But by the time the last restructure occurred I was ready to go and opted for a voluntary redundancy. Being so water dominated, I emotionally connect to most things in my life, and had defined myself in terms of my job, my position, my earnings and seniority. I was holding onto this even though I was now a Mother and had different priorities and values. In typical Jupiter fashion, a new opportunity opened up and, as stressful as the whole chaotic process was, losing my job back then was actually a good thing. But all is crystal clear in hindsight.

The 2^nd house involves money, possessions and things that are valuable to us- our values and our ideals. It is also our view of ourselves and our goals, so when Jupiter is transiting this house, we are looking at expansion and accumulating in this area. Sometimes it is as literal as growing of personal resources through a redundancy payment (as mine was), but it also was more than that. Beyond the lump sum were issues around how I saw myself, my reserves of self confidence and what was really important NOW.

As with all things Jupiter, you need to be careful what you ask for. If your goal is around accumulating money, you may get that- but at what cost? Jupiter 2^nd house transits ask you to think and deal honestly and with integrity – 2 Jupiter words. These transits also ask you to look at your values and spirituality- more Jupiter principles. Consider also how you treat the possessions and money that you have now, as mismanagement of both can be common under a Jupiter transit. Too much of anything can be, well… too much to handle.

Many years ago a friend lost his wife to someone else during a Jupiter 2^nd house transit. He had been  earning great money, but at the cost of neglecting her. Looking back, he admits he treated her as if she was a possession. During that transit, he had to look long, hard and honestly at his ideals and his views towards marriage and admit that he didn’t always act with as much integrity as he could have. He has since remarried and now has a good relationship with his ex, who is also happy. In hindsight, as painful as it was, losing his marriage was one of the best things that had happened to him.

During a 2^nd house transit, think about what is really important and just what you are prepared to do for that goal or ideal. Look beyond the material and the physical and ensure that you are being true to your own ethical reality. If you want to indulge a little (or a lot), go ahead… but be sure that you are buying those designer shoes because you really want them, not just to show the world that you can.

(Pic by me)

When Jupiter crosses your Ascendant, astrologers will smile and helpfully remind you to watch your diet and your weight for the period of that transit. There is logic in this thinking- Jupiter is an expansionary planet, it makes things bigger… and, as we know, bigger is not always better. The first house represents the physical body, your vitality, physical appearance, your first impression, your presence. The first house represents YOU and the mask you wear to face the world. So, when Jupiter transits your 1^st house, it is going to want to make you, well, bigger. Yes?  Jupiter is asking you to expand yourself- just not necessarily in an outward direction!

I have mentioned before that Jupiter is very prominent in my chart. With a Pisces Ascendant, Jupiter is my Chart Ruler (traditional). As the ruler of the 10^th house, Jupiter also is my career planet. Sitting in Cancer in the 5^th house, Jupiter is in an exact trine aspect to the modern ruler of Pisces, Neptune. In short, whatever Jupiter does, impacts me in a pretty big way.

I have been able to track my weight fluctuations pretty closely to Jupiter transits. I have always been at my healthiest & fittest whenever Jupiter transits angular houses, and at my absolute fattest whenever he is transiting the 6^th or the 12^th (more on those in later posts). Looking back at the previous 2 Jupiter transits of my 1^st, on each occasion it has felt as if I have come out of some sort of confinement and am unleashing a new expanded version of myself onto an unsuspecting world.

Any transit of the Ascendant is going to be hugely important, not just because the energy of the transiting planet is directly fusing with your essential energy, but also because the changes and impacts felt in the 1^st house will also directly impact the affairs of the 7^th (your relationships), the 10^th (your career, public profile) and the 4^th (your home, roots, family life). For example, changes in your appearance, self confidence or physical presence may cause friction with your partner has he struggles to integrate his vision of you with what you are becoming. It may challenge you to look upward and perhaps change the way the world sees you, which in turn will result in adjustments being required in the home- perhaps a new way of looking at work/home balance.

The last time Jupiter was in Pisces was in 1998, crossing my ascendant about 4 weeks after the birth of my daughter.  Not only was I expanded in a spiritual sense, but I was now a Mother (10^th house) with all that implies. Naturally this also changed the way I was looked at from a workplace viewpoint as well. After 9 years of just “us”, my husband and I had to integrate the new reality of parenthood into our relationship (7^th house) and our home life. New rules had to be determined governing work/home balance (4^th house). Nothing would ever be the same again.

I dropped my baby weight quickly with daily walks and gym sessions as soon as I was able- not because I desperately wanted to drop the baby weight, but because I wanted to be busy. I am the type of person that eats to fill empty spaces. The excitement & challenge of a new baby left no empty spaces. Blessed with a bub that slept through the night from 5 weeks, I painted rooms, took up photography seriously, enrolled in evening classes to polish up my schoolgirl French, did a semester of water colour painting and basically enjoyed every minute of my maternity leave.

I did the whole Domestic Diva thing, budgeted, baked, and drove my husband mad with my need for adult conversation. In short, I took every opportunity that Jupiter threw at me. I definitely got bigger, but my body did not. The choices I made and the opportunities I took during that year formed a basis for what has happened in the last 12 years.

The advent of Sarah in my life prompted me to take a year out and make the decision to send my ambitions into a different direction until she had finished primary school (now). Once back from maternity leave I accepted a retrenchment and accepted a role with my present employer- a decision that provided financial security, yet allowed me the flexibility to still put her first.

The previous Jupiter/ Ascendant transit in 1986 saw me in my 2^nd year at university. After being accepted into a professional writing/ journalism degree at Canberra University that would have seen me leave home straight out of school, I had instead allowed myself to be convinced that I should stay at home and accept the more prestigious Economics/Law degree at Sydney University as a more sensible and realistic choice. At the time the decision was being made, Jupiter was travelling through the tail end of practical Capricorn. I recall coming home after the 1^st week and telling my Dad that I had made the wrong decision, but would now see it through.

That first year, while Jupiter was in the 12^th, was miserable. I was unhappy with my choice and, having little interest in the subjects, struggled with the work. In order to pass I was spending more and more time in my room studying. I felt like I was in confinement. I had no social life and (by my standards at 19) felt fat (although to have that weight now would be a dream J). By the time 2^nd year came and Jupiter was moving into Pisces and my 1^st house, I switched all my law and accounting subjects to political science and agricultural economics and became interested again.

I also became the 1^st female Rugby League (for US readers, this is like NFL without padding) Referee and was running up to 7 games a weekend- juniors on Saturdays and seniors on Sundays. What started as a challenge of sorts (my Dad had said that there was no way the establishment would ever allow a woman to get a referees ticket) became a way of making some money and the 1^st step towards independence from home and family. My social life improved as did my health and fitness (1^st). My public profile (10^th) was altered (a certain weird sort of status associated with being “the first”) and I started my 1^st serious relationship (7^th).

Naturally there was friction at home (4^th) as my parents did not necessarily approve of what I was doing, but I was prepared to take the risk that 12-18 months earlier I would have shrunk away from. Again, each angle was impacted and again I was set on a course of sorts. As soon as Uni finished I took up employment with a Financial Institution, moved to Canberra and shortly after, met my husband.

I have absolutely no doubt that in each of these scenarios my choices unconsciously were a good use of that Jupiter energy. Pisces is a very suggestible sign, and I could easily back in 1986 have allowed myself to continue with the path I was on. I have no doubt that I would have continued to get fatter, more miserable and more stuck. After having Sarah I could have locked myself away, and eaten for company. Instead I chose to not waste a single day.

I am now at that crossroads again. As in 1986 and 1998 I am on the brink of a new cycle. Again I am at the fattest and most unhealthiest point of that cycle and again I am at a vital career point. I can choose to fill the empty spaces with food and Nectar of the NZ Gods (wine, my personal poison) or with passion and newness and challenge.

The sign, position and relative strength of your natal Jupiter will tell you a lot about how you approach Jupiter times. Those of you with Jupiter in Pisces, Sagittarius or Cancer will tend to approach Jupiter in a more optimistic way than if you have it in Gemini or Capricorn. If Jupiter natally falls in the 1^st, 7^th, 4^th or 10^th house of your chart, you will also be impacted by this transit. If you have a lot of planets (particularly the Sun or Moon) in Pisces or Sagittarius you will be inclined to party with Jupiter and take a chance or two… and that is what Jupiter loves!

Naturally as with all transits there are some dangers associated with even the most benevolent of planets. With Jupiter in the 1^st, the danger is in becoming too big for your own shoes, big headed or believing too much in your own perceived importance or invincibility. Most of us have enough Saturn to provide a safety net… but then again….

Think about your own cycles. If Jupiter is crossing your ascendant now, what was happening in your life in 1998, in 1986, in 1974 (if you can remember back that far). Are there any similarities? Did opportunities come up that for whatever reason you chose not to take? I would love to hear your stories.